they're engaged in other activities. so it's hard to imagine their spending much time at all training specifically for the next crater. i think that gets back to how we tend to want to remember this story. look, it's the sesquicentennial. the story of the black union soldier is front and center, and i couldn't be happier about that. go back to the centennial, and you will be hard-pressed to find any references to black union soldiers. but i think there's been a danger in the way in which this story has been pushed over the last few years, and i think it's become almost sort of the moral narrative of our civil war memory, right? we want to correct for forgetting about them for so long, and i think we tend to gloss over some of the darker sides of black soldiers. i think i sort of touched on one of them. i don't think we're very comfortable talking about black soldiers massacring others. that doesn't fit into our memory right now. but i think the other part of this is, to get at your question, i think we want to

believe that if those black regiments had been allowed to lead the assault, that would have been it. in other words, we can imagine black soldiers marching, charging over blanford hill, right, into petersburg. that's a very soothing image. i think that tells us more about how we want to remember the war than the battle itself, because anyone who has studied civil war battles, they never go as planned. right? there's always something that goes afoul. so is it any surprise that given this massive detonation that no one really can predict what it will do to the landscape and what's beyond it. remember, it's not just that front confederate line they have to deal with. this is a complex sort of maze of bombproofs, traverses. part of the problem is in the 1920s, the crater battlefield was an 18-hole golf course. so a lot of that battlefield has been smoothed over in one way or the other. you really are hard-pressed to

get a sense of what it would have looked like in the 1860s. so would it have changed anything? i don't know. no idea. >> i have a question about mahone. i'm quite fascinated with him, as i am benjamin butler, too. and my question to you is about mahone's ability to influence, communicate what you found out about that. he must have been quite charismatic, because i don't know how you can pull off being on one side of the war and then turning around and running on a

republican ticket and also getting the african-american people to back him after screaming on the battlefield. i want to know more about his personality and his -- i'm assuming he must be quite charismatic like clinton, for example. >> that's actually a really good question. i don't know if i can really get at what you're looking for, because i find mahone, as well, fascinating for some of the reasons you're getting at. although for me, reading his letters or what i could read of his letters and especially what others wrote about him, he's kind of difficult to really decipher. i found him kind of this -- there's this wall in front of mahone. i will say this much about him. he is very adept at utilizing his war record to get what he wants. it's not surprising, because after the war, mahone becomes --

he's the president of the miami and pacific railroad. it's a huge conglomerate of railroads. it's very controversial here in virginia. he has to plea to the virginia government to do certain things and he has to assuage the concerns of local communities. and he does this primarily by sort of pushing his war record. he gives free passes to veterans to travel on his trains. he goes to reunions. the most popular organization of his own veterans was the mahone's -- i think it's called the old brigade association. they met on the crater battlefield. mahone organized all of this. and it's interesting because he doesn't fit the mold of the lost cause confederate general. he's not refighting civil war battles. he's not concerned about whether or not the war was about slavery or not. mahone was concerned about the future of virginia.

that comes through loud and clear. not concerned about refighting the war. he does love his veterans, that's for sure. but i don't really have a sense of sort of his emotional life at all. and i think maybe it's in part because so little of his own writing is accessible. i'm sort of brushing off your question, but i hate to do so because i think that's just the kind of thing that probably explains his success. he does make certain political alliances with certain individuals in the black community. robert a. paul is one of them. and they take full advantage of this. i know there was passed around this morning a little leaflet about the black community giving him a cane, i think, with a gold tip. the context of that is really important because african-american politicians, black readjusters understand that their position in state government and what they've gained because of mahone is tenuous. they want to keep that going. and so, of course, you can see that as kind of playing to mahone's, you know, his ego a

little bit, right? we really love you. right? not everyone loved mahone in the black community or, obviously, among white virginians. so it goes without saying -- maybe i can give you some references for further reading that might actually be helpful, but that's the best i can do. >> sir, in your research of general mahone, did you find any writings where he reflected back upon surviving the nat turner slavery revolt in south carolina in 1831? >> that's a great question. mahone was from southampton county. nothing specific, nothing explicit. but i do think it's important to remember that he probably would have grown up -- he was born in monroe. his family were innkeepers, kept a tavern. so he's not from the

slave-holding class, the large slave-holding class. so nothing specific, but there is no doubt that mahone and others in that part of virginia, especially the tidewater area, they would have grown up hearing stories about nat turner's rebellion. they would have grown up hearing stories not just about nat turner's rebellion, but many would have grown up hearing stories about violent slave rebellions in the caribbean throughout the early part of the 19th century. so part of what i tried to do without understanding confederate reaction to black soldiers in the crater was to fit that response into the broader context of slave rebellions, those that actually happened and those that there were rumors. because sometimes, oftentimes, it didn't matter whether it actually took place. if there was even a rumor of a rebellion or organization, you clamped down hard. so the men who were fighting in petersburg that day, they don't need to hear cries of no quarter. they don't need to hear cries of remember fort pillow, right? they know what needs to be done on the morning of july 30th, and they do it. in fact, if you look at the numbers of black soldiers who were massacred, it probably falls into line with the numbers who are usually killed in the aftermath of slave rebellions in the states and beyond the

caribbean. so it's a measured response on the part of confederates on july 30th, but i do think that's an important point that -- it's at least worth thinking about. i think there was a question over here if we have time. great questions. thank you very much. >> oh, not to keep on the mahone bandwagon again. >> no, please do. he's wonderful. >> well, reviewing some of the ninth corps records of the national archives that looked like they hadn't been looked at for years, it was clear that a lot of stuff did not make it into the official records, and there was a great account by henry thomas, who was colonel of the usct regiments who when they finally allowed a truce to bury the dead, he got turned around and walked into the confederate lines by mistake and was captured.

he immediately put on a blindfold so he couldn't be accused of spying, gets taken into petersburg. he reports nothing to report on the lines. i got captured by the confederates, brought back the next morning. then colonel loring, who was burnside's chief of staff, writes an addendum on this thing. he writes that thomas was taken in and the confederate officers were spitting on him. they recognized him as being a white commander of a usct regiment and treated him horrib horribly. beauregard treated him horribly, and finally mahone comes through and he hears that the confederate officers are

putting mahone down as rescuing black troops. >> i -- well, go ahead. >> it just shocked me. then the other thing, going through some of these records that you don't read about too much, is in the ninth core area, which is most of the park, they talk about how the confederates kept up sniper fire day and night, because they were so ticked off -- >> both sides. >> -- the colored troops are in the area. the union officers feel that's why it's worse there. of course, they are the closest, but in the history that i learned growing up, i didn't hear that level of nastiness. mahone must have had something in him that was just a little bit more decent than the others. >> and i don't claim to know what that is. it is true that after the fourth division was consolidated later that year, the snipering does slack off a bit on that particular front.

the other thing i'll just mention, and i found this absolutely fascinating. after the battle, about 1100 black and white prisoners were taken. they're paraded through petersburg up and down the streets. just imagine that. they're just paraded. it's the way they organized the prisoners. they interspersed black and white union prisoners. they're mixed up. there's no doubt that one of the reasons they're doing this is to sort of stick it to the white soldiers, forcing them to march alongside their black comrades. but there is another thing going on here, and i think that is they were actually sending a message to the remaining civilian population that remained in petersburg. here is a controlled example of race mixing. here is really what's at stake in this war. slavery, of course, is the institution that largely kept the races separate throughout the antebellum period in virginia and elsewhere. if we lose this war, here's a visual example of what's in store for us.

i don't think it's any accident that, in fact, they did this, not just for the reasons of insulting the white union prisoners, but thanks for the comment. >> where were most of the black buried? where were the black dead, the soldiers, where were they buried? >> many of them were just buried on the battlefield afterwards. >> say that again? >> many were buried on the battlefield. >> mass grave? >> yeah. i don't know what happened to all of them. i'm sure some of them ended up in cemetaries, absolutely. i don't know the exact sort of number that end up in cemeteries. i know a large number -- and they were finding bodies on the petersburg battlefield into the 1930s, well late into the post-war period. >> just to add to what happened to the bodies of everybody, union dead were removed off the

petersburg battlefields between 1866 and 1869. confederate dead are removed by the memorialist association in the city in 1866 through the early 20th century. so poplar grove national cemetery is where battlefields are. there are 331 black soldiers buried there. almost all of them are unknown burials from the crater battlefield. >> thanks, emanuel. if i had my way, every talk i give on the crater, i would bring emanuel with me. thanks. >> i hope that i'm the last person to speak because i'm not speaking as i should. i think that my presence here tonight has been fulfilled, and that is to listen to you.

that's fine. but my mind goes to many other things that have no relationship to our being here tonight. i was born in south side virginia. once a year, from my being a boy going to a one-room school, once a year i felt good about being a black person. it was on april the 9th. we celebrated emancipation day. we talked about lincoln. we talked about freedom. that's when i really felt good. the other times was an existence as if we were pushing a barrel up a hill.

>> thank you, everyone. i really enjoyed that. thank you for your questions and your time. [applause] >> once again, kevin, thank you very much for you spending time with us, and i want to, again, thank st. paul's episcopal church for this venue. i think this was a perfect setting for our gathering this evening, and most of all we want to thank you for taking time out of the your day, your evening to be with us. and we hope that you were fulfilled tonight, that you were stimulated somewhat tonight by kevin's words. and we encourage you to continue learning about petersburg, the american civil war and where we've come over the last 150 years as a nation. but again, thank you all very much for your time with us this evening. [applause]

american history tv normally airs on the weekends. but with congress on recess, throughout this month we're featuring highlights during the week. we continue with our look at the battle of the crater during which union forces detonated explosives underneath the confederate lines to create a gap in the defenses. but that attack failed with heavy losses for union troops. coming up federal park service commemorates the 150th anniversary of that battle. we'll also take a look at why the tbs failed and why the u.s. colored troops were unjustly blamed and levin on contribution of u.s. colored troops and how they were remembered in the years immediately following the civil war. with congress on recess during this month, american history tv airs throughout the week here on

c-span3. coming up live this afternoon author and historian anthony pitch will detail his book, the burning of washington, in which he describes military forces 200 years ago this week set the white house and u.s. capital on fire after making their way into the nation's capital. hosted by the smithsonian associates, you can see it live today starting at 6:45 eastern again here on c-span3. coming up tonight, a look at civil wars atlanta campaign. general sherman marched into georgia capturing atlanta. atlanta fell to the union on september 2nd, 1864. we'll hear pout general sherman's march to the sea through georgia as well as joseph e. johnston who led through atlanta during the spring and summer of 1864, also a look at confederate weapons

manufacturing during and after the fall of atlanta. it's all coming up tonight starting 8:15 eastern here on c-span3. next, an event commemorating the 150th anniversary of the battle of the crater. honoring the role of the u.s. colored troops. the battle of the crater took place july 30th, 1864, as part of the siege of petersburg. the ceremony includes the unveiling of a stamp by the u.s. postal service and remarks by historian james blankenship who details major events of the battle. held at petersburg national battlefield, this is an hour and fifteen minutes. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. we thank you this morning for being here at petersburg national battlefield on the 150th anniversary of the battle of the crater. my name is chris brice, chief of

interception for petersburg battlefield. for those with us at 5:30, we thank you again and welcome you again to the park. remarking a few minutes ago to my colleagues, the soldiers in the overland campaign of 1864, it's been a long road to petersburg. we started this -- we started our 150th events for three parts may 3rd at the spotsylvania courthouse, spotsylvania county national military park. we've moved south every since. it's been quite a feat for the national park service. it's the first time three parks within the process shared programming where we tried to make a continual program of the overland campaign rather than

looking at it as wilderness, spotsylvan spotsylvania, cold harbor, petersburg. this was one continual process for these soldiers 150 years ago. i know for some of you in the audience this morning, we've seen your faces before. you've been on the road with us and we certainly appreciate that. this morning i'd like to introduce superintendent of the battlefield lewis rogers. lewis began his park service career in 1984 as seasonal interpretive at allegheny railroad, jamestown flood in pennsylvania. he took his permanent position same sites following year 1985 serving as a park ranger and later as a resource management visitor protection specialist at the sites there.

1990 he moved to blue ridge parkway here in virginia. while there served as park ranger serving as law enforcement interpretive seasonal rangers in the parkway and also responsible for a living history appalachian farm, seasonal visitors contact stations. he became chief rerng at booker t. washington in 1992, chief of interpretation, he was responsible for interpretation, resource management, fire management and fee collection operations within the site. 1994 supervisory law enforcement independence national historical park and then moved to valley forge 1997 first as supervisory then chief ranger where he managed both law enforcement and interpretation. in 2009 took on the role of interim superintendent in new hampshire. he became superintendent of

petersburg national battlefield in 2010 and most recently he served as our acting deputy regional director, chief of staff to our regional director here for the northeast region. he holds a bachelors degree in parks and recreation with concentration resource management from slippery rock, pennsylvania, graduate of the federal law enforcement training center with both basic law enforcement and criminal investigator background. it's my privilege to introduce to you superintendent lewis rogers. >> thanks, chris. i appreciate that introduction. i am very, very honored to be here today. i want to take some time to let you know just what this means to me. when i was a child, i can remember sitting in front of a

tv. this goes back a ways when black and white movies dominated tv. this goes back a ways when 12:00 came and the tv actually went off. i can remember sitting in front of the tv at night and watching those old war movies. i remember watching leather necks, john wayne as they flew through the air. i remember watching those guys as they fought in battle. as soldiers fought and died in their cry for freedom. i can remember all those things. i fell in love with those movies. it inspired me, motivated me. then one day a peculiar thing happened. i can remember during that time that we began to integrate our schools. i can remember the forced busing. i can remember how it affected me and how i watched social and racial unrest that plagued our country. i can remember the american flag being cared in the hands of

hood hood hooded kuk. luxklan members. when i watched it on tv, a small voice echoed in the back of my mind and it told me if you were there, you would not have done these things. these images were not for you. perhaps you would have been a porter. perhaps you would have been a dishwasher or bellman but if you were there you never would have felony those plan flown those planes. because of these images i believe that. i believe i never would have served in combat, served on a ship or distinction of honor. that voice had a peculiar effect on me. i found myself drawing away from america. in school i stood for the pledge of allegiance but i stopped crossing my heart. although i faced the flag, i

would not repeat the words. i felt this country rejected me. i felt i was lost. a stranger in a strange land. i could not understand why i was here. this land may have been your land, but i did not feel this land was my land. when i saw the stars and stripes, when i saw the stars and stripes on porches when i patched by, the fourth of july parade, i actually believed that flag did not stand for me. it stood for a society and a people but it did not represent me. then one day i picked up a book. it was a small magazine. put out by a man named tony brown. it was called tony brown's journal. in that book, he dedicated that entire book to the story of the tuskegee airmen. then i read that book and found out about the 332nd fighter group. it included the squadrons with

the 4777th bomber group. i learned the 332nd flew the bell 39 era cobras, famed north american p-51 mustang and a peculiar thing happened to me, i began to dream again. i began to learn about all the accomplishments the african-americans had made over the years. i could now see myself in history. perhaps i could have served in the first regiment at valley forge under general george washington because now i knew they were there. perhaps i would have served aboard a u.s. constitution in a war of 1812 or fought off british in louisiana in 1815 because i could see myself there. or perhaps i could have served right here in petersburg in 1864 in the usct, united states colored troop, 29th, 30th, 31st or 34th infantries. in 1866 i could have settled the west as a buffalo soldier fighting in the ninth or tenth

cavalry. or henry flipper born a slave in 1856 but later graduate freddie "wall street" point in 1877 as commissioned second lieutenant in the army. perhaps i would have found myself in the spanish american war buffalo soldier with teddy roosevelt and roughriders. perhaps i would have found myself in world war i, 369th, 370th, 371th or 372nd infantry serving and assigned to french army fighting under french commander in europe, later dubbed hell fighters. or eugene bullard first african-american to fly in combat world war ii in the french army, whose moto was a heart on the side with an arrow through it and a moto that read we all bleed red. or perhaps the first black sailor to receive the navy cross for heroism during pearl harbor.

or perhaps month fort point, one of the first black marines in a segregated army. perhaps i would have known some of the young black women in the army corps, 608 battalion that deployed to europe during world war ii. or perhaps 320th, vl hachlt all black barrage. 320th only balloon barrage battalion to land in omaha on d-day. perhaps part of the 93rd infantry building air strips and bases, while simultaneously fighting the enemy to keep them from destroying what i just built. perhaps i would have been part of the red bowl express which flew surprise to paris with over 70% black participation. perhaps i would have served in world war ii under general patton, the battle of the bulge. perhaps i could have been with them as they fought through france, belgium, germany.

perhaps i could have been with them then they linked up with the soviets. perhaps i could have been part of the eighth marine ammunition company that landed in iowa jima. buffalo soldiers fought with douglas mcarthur in korea, daniel james flew 351st in support of troops underground. later became the first african-american four star general. perhaps i could have been charles young, born in 1964, the third african-american to graduate from west point, the first african-american to attain the rank of colonel. while in 1903 attached to presidio in san francisco, he was appointed the first acting superintendent at sequoia in general grant national parks. no, i couldn't have been a superintendent then. that was too long ago, but i can be one now. as i continued to educate myself about all the contributions that african-americans in times of war had done, something peculiar

began to happen to me, something peculiar began to change. when i looked at those old black and white movies again, i couldn't hear that voice anymore. my love affair with those old black and whites were rekindled again. i began to love them began. here is the best part. not just the ones about the black fighters, i embraced them all. leather necks, the black sheep. i began to embrace the dirty dozen. i think what changed me was i found my place in history. although i didn't see myself in every picture, i knew i was there. just out of the scene i was flying those planes just over the hill i was driving those tanks. i found myself in history and something i could be proud of. what i've learned is that we all want to tell those parts of history that mean the most to us

from our different points of view. we want to hear those parts that swell us with pride. those thoughts we want to shape the hearts of our children. those thoughts that compel us to get out of bed in the morning and push on through another day. people want to see themselves in history. one day in october in the late 1980s i found myself in a met station in pittsburgh taking an oath with a number of other sailors. i found myself on a plane on the way off to the u.s. navy rotc in san diego. later i found myself on the way to the port to be a sea bee in the united states navy. a few years ago i found myself in the stands of great lakes as i watched my son pass and review. just a few days ago a man asked

me why should i serve a country that doesn't like me. i know this isn't true. sometimes the voices of hate can be so loud you can't hear the voices of reason. i explained to him, young man, we've been serving our country since inception. i explained to him about the roland regiments, the usct and buffalo soldiers, the 761st battalion. he says, you know, i think i can serving after reading about tuskegee airmen, a peculiar thing happened to me as a boy. i saw john wayne and i loved him. i saw the black sheep and i loved them. i think what change was best described by something chapy said and was written in a book, the commanding officer of the tuskegee airmen. he titled his book simply "an american." he said when a reporter asked him about his title and why he

titled it so simply, he said that i fought too hard for this country. i've lived here and i've given. he said i've done too much i'm not a hyphenated american. i'm not a black american, white american, african-american, he said simply i'm an american. something happened to me when i went back to school. i stood a little stronger. i crossed my heart and i said those words with pride. and now when i look and i see the american flag blowing in the wind and waving in the breeze, i've come to realize that that flag waves for me. thank you. [ applause ]

>> thank you, lewis. this morning our colors will be presented by the ft. lee color guard. would you please rise? this will be followed by the national anthem.

♪ ♪

our in vocation given by dr. george lions, pastor of gillfield baptist church here in petersburg. >> invite you to pray with me in your own tradition as i pray in mine. gracious god, after 150 years of reflex and remembrance, we

invoke your name so you would pride our hearts to remember the lives lost in battle so that we might seek peace in our time. we acknowledge your reconciling presence always at work, even through battles, which has brought women and men together from all walks of life, every station and culture, 150 years later in harmony as community. out of this place of sorrow, make this day a celebration, a celebration of the community of humanity. our plea remains all feelings of sexual strife be entirely forgotten and blotted out in the name of the one who is our everlasting fortress and peace,

amen. >> we are very fortunate this morning. we've worked very hard, not only as national park service but u.s. postal service to make this event what it is today. we're honored to have with us this morning the chief postal inspector of the u.s. postal inspection service, he was appointed in july 2010. he oversees all operations of the postal inspection service which include national headquarters office. sorry, you can have a seat. [ laughter ] >> sorry about that.

>> hopefully that's my glitch of the day. national headquarters, 18 field positions, two in laboratory, staffed by 114 inspectors, 700 postal police officers and approximately 600 support personnel. chief cat rell serves as postal union postal security group. prior to his appointment served as deputy chief inspector at the national headquarters, where he oversee all national security programs for postal service. a native of west virginia, grew up in noerps. he joined postal service in 1987 when he became a letter carrier there. 1991 became a postal inspector to the new orleans division where he investigated internal and external mail theft throughout louisiana and southern mississippi. since that time, the chief held a number of management positions in major metropolitan areas

including his appointment in charge of washington field office during the amarathrax investigation. he served as inspector in charge of security and crime prevention and communication group where he guided toward a risk in management analysis platform, streamline security related programs and implemented numerous cost effective and innovative solutions. this group produced security and crime prevention videos and overhauled postal inspection services external website. he holds bachelors degree in psychology from university of new orleans and it's my pleasure to introduce chief guy catrell. [ applause ] >> thanks, everybody. i was going to tell you to sit down but i like a crowd that knows what i'm doing. so if i go too long, you can walk out on me if you have to. it's kind of neat for this event

to be from west virginia, so i go both ways. thanks for the great introduction and remarks as well. we stand here in the shadow of the crater, the visible result of the most famous battle in the fight for pieretersburg. it's the perfect location for today. this the latest in the series of stamps that celebrates sesquicentennial, 150th anniversary of the civil war. today we commemorate two battles in that four year conflict. right now in mobile, alabama, postal service dedicating a second stamp in the set. that stamp depicts david g. farrfar gatt's fleet in alabama. it's fitting i'm here representing postal service as chief posal inspector to dedicate this historic civil war stamp. why? the inspection service played a

vital role keeping our country connected during the war and afterwards. the postal service protecting united states mail, it's employees and customers for more than two centuries including the civil war years. now special agents as postal inspectors were called back then were known -- they helped introduce many services still used this very day. one of those is the postal money order. money orders have their origin in the war between the states. they were developed to make it easier for soldiers to send money home to their families. special agents helped deliver mail to troops in the field and reestablished mail service in southern communities as they return to federal control. so the stamp we dedicate here today is a rendering of the painting the charge of the 22nd negro regiment 16th june, 1864, by andre castan ya, depicts an early part of the campaign. it was according to historian

hess the longest, most complex and perhaps the most important of the civil war. here today we also have the stamp designer phil jordan with us. the soldiers shown on this stamp were part of the 175 regiments and more than 178,000 african-american men who made up the united states colored troops. these troops were fighting not for the continuation of the nation, they were fighting for their own freedom and freedom of their families. the united states colored troops were made up of free blacks from the north as well as escaped and freed slaves from the south. these troops formed after the emancipation proclamation. brave men put their lives on the line in order to prove they were fit to be citizens. writers, statesmen and african-american abolitionists frederick douglass said once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter u.s.,

let him get an eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny he has earned the right to citizenship. by the end of the war, the united states colored troops made up almost 10% of the strength of the union army. the troops were instrumental in the success of many of the major late war campaigns. referring to them an officer of the 22nd u.s. colored infantry wrote, i never saw troops fight better, more bravely and with more determination. with the issuance of this year's civil war sesquicentennial stamps, the postal service is proud to other than the memory of the troops. it is proud to honor all the soldiers and sailors who served. both petersburg and mobile bay stamps are being issued as forever stamps. they will always be good to mail a card or letter no matter what the postage rate might be continuing to honor troops that

helped to unite the nation. now, if i could have those on stage join me along with re-enactors for u.s. ct we will unveil civil war battle of petersburg stamp.

also have the privilege of introducing dr. beach from north carolina, attended undergraduate school at morehouse college in georgia. upon graduation he accepted a marketing management position in washington, d.c. while in washington, d.c. received an nba from howard university. he completed his dock torl studies with the dba in marketing from the university of phoenix. third generation entrepreneur at 28 years of age he founded multi-million dollar food,

beverage, entertainment company with five locations in washington, d.c. later established a regional publishing that included public affairs programming, international video documentaries, community newspapers, regional lifestyle magazines and statewide travel and tourism dpids from north carolina, maryland and washington, d.c. as an avid civil war historian, he's the founding director of the cultural heritage museum in north carolina, which is dedicated to 200,000 african-american soldiers who fought with the union army in the american civil war. presently dr. beach is president of the united states colored troops living history association, the national associations of re-enactors, rhysans, story tellers, scholars and students dedicated to preserving history of african-american participation in the civil war. he is a senior vice president of the national business league, national business trade association founded by dr. booker t. washington in 1900.

also he is the past chairman of the district of columbia chamber of commerce, largest business membership organization in the metropolitan washington area. it is my privilege this morning to introduce to you dr. malcolm beach sr. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. i didn't realize i was that old and had been around that long. you start to do these re-enactments and start thinking about 1800s and say maybe i have been around for a while. good morning to all of you. i really wanted to thank you all for coming out. this stamp and the ceremony surrounding it means a lot to us. we are re-enactors. we are commemorators of the

thousands of african-americans who fought for their freedom during the american civil war. we go all over the country not only doing re-enactments, but we do living demonstrations, and what we find is that the impact on our audience, especially the young audience, as the superintendent said earlier, they can see themselves in history. when they see us, they see people that look like them, and they understand how important this particular war was to the african-american community. just to put it in some quantitative perspective, before the civil war began, there were 4 million african-americans citizens enslaved in the united states. after the civil war was over in 1865, there was zero, okay? that is the most significant

event in the history of african-americans in this country. equally as important, as you heard earlier, the north might have been fighting to keep the union together. the south was fighting for something called states' rights, but the african-american u.s. colored troops were fighting for their freedom as well as their manhood. slavery had a way of emasculating the men and families when they couldn't protect their families against the cruel actions of the slaveholder. so part of this war was about reclaiming and recapturing our manhood. it made a difference when you had at uniform and you had a weapon, and you went on to free your family.

you got a different response than just saying a few kind words to some slaveholder when you saw that gun coming at him. it made a difference. we also tell people, and all of our kids and our family members to recall the fact that the slaves actually freed themselves. let's be clear, prior to 1863 and the emancipation proclamation, the south was winning the war. lincoln decided it was a military strategic plan to issue the emancipation proclamation at a time when he had no control over the slave areas, right? but he freed all the slaves. but in that emancipation proclamation there was a clause that allowed african-americans to join the union forces, get a uniform, get weaponry, and actually fight in the battles. so in actuality, the slaves

freed themselves, and this is the kind of independence that we're all proud of. that's why this stamp today is so very important, and we're very, very happy and pleased with the u.s. postal service and the national park service for having this ceremony here today because it's going to tell everybody all across america that these men fought for their own freedom, and that's what's important. and like i said, i want to thank my fellow re-enactors that are here with us today and all the members of the united states colored troops living history association for what you do and what we do in telling the story of african-american participation in the civil war, and i thank you so much for coming today. [ applause ] let's here it for the post

office! [ applause ] >> thank you, dr. beech. this morning to give us somewhat of a perspective on the battle of the crater, the significance that this event holds, as it was said earlier petersburg, it is a very complex military operation. 9 1/2 months, 292 days. we're just in the beginning, but of those military actions, one stands out above all the others, that is the crater. on a daily basis when we have our visitors here, they want to know, where is the crater? they don't have to define it as the petersburg crater, but people know. it's here.

it's at petersburg. when we were at antietam two years ago, how many millions of cornfields do we have in the united states. but when you say the cornfield, people know what you're talking about. when you say the crater, people know what you're talking about. this morning i'm privileged to introduce a long-time friend, a career service member of the national park service, james blankenship, jr. jimmy is native here to the petersburg area. he began his park service career in 1975 as a seasonal park ranger at petersburg national battlefield. 1981 he accepted his first permanent position at independence national historical park. 1928 he returned to his native state of virginia after accepting a position at colonial national historical park and in 1984 his park service career returned to petersburg national

battlefie battlefield. since then he's eld the positions of park ranger, cure rate, and historian curator. he's participating in curatorial assistant projects at yellowstone, ft. stanwyck, sagamore hill, longfellow, acadia national park, sandy hook national seashore and jamestown and yorktown cliollections. he is currently a member of the northeast regions curatorial emergency response team. he has spent more than 30 years firing civil war era artillery, primarily field artillery. for 16 years he served as a national level 19th century artillery instructor with the national park service historic weapons program. he is currently in the process of completing a manuscript on the united states military railroads during the siege of

petersburg. he holds a degree of history from virginia commonwealth university and again it is with pleasure that i introduce the parks historian and good friend, jimmy blankenship. [ applause ] >> well, folks, when we first started this process, they wanted a little talk on the battle of the crater, and i said, sure, i'd be glad to do it but i was told i got ten minutes. so i'm going to condense nine hours into ten minutes. it might be a little longer. needless to say, i cannot really do justice to the heroism that both sides showed out here in these fields in just ten minutes. if you want to get more details about what happened, go on one of the tours that are being offered. now, on june 19th both sides dug in. earthworks had to be built for protection since most of the landscape was barren of trees and any natural concealment. in places the lines were far apart but in other areas the

lines were very close. the lines from front of where we are were only 25 yards distant. one regiment was the 48th pennsylvania infantry. some troops were coal miners. they thought they could mine underneath the confederate battery, fill the end of the mine with gun powder, and literally blow a hole in the confederate lines. the digging began on june 25th and the mine was completed about a month later. the total length of the mine would be about 586 feet. they removed 18,000 cubic feet of earth in the construction of the mine. the sounds of digging actually once they got up underneath the confederate battery were heard by a south carolinian infan friman and virginia irtill artillery men. they were looking for the mine, rumors were flying and anywhere where the lines were close, the confederates were digging listening galleries.

there's one spot where the confederate counter mine goes over top of the union mine. they just didn't go deep enough. the union mine was 16 feet down. the confederate listening galleries would go down 8 to 10 feet so they were right on top and, yes, at night when it was quiet, they were hearing the sounds of dagiigging below them. the end of the mine would be filled with 8,000 pounds of gun powder. the initial battle plan was to blow up the gun powder, create a large hole in the confederate lines. the initial attack would be led by african-american troops, and they would roll up the confederate lines to the north back behind me, to the south behind you, and then the rest of the troops would go through -- around the hole and capture the cemetery about 19,000 yards behind us here. if grant could get guns up on top of that ridge, he might have petersburg. well, the plan was changed a few days later. general meade changed the plan.

meade ordered burnside, the commander of the union 9th corps, to send in one of his white divisions to lead the assault and the attacking force was to go straight for blanford hill. other union divisions following would move to the right and left of the crater rolling up the confederate flanks. major general bush rod johnson's confederate divisions defended this section of the line. ransom's north carolinians were to the north behind me. right where we were would be elliott's south carolinians and the virginians would to the south of the crater behind you. wright's artillery battery was positioned to the north in what's now a cemetery about 600 yards behind me. you had captain richard peegram's cavalry in the salient. and davidson's battery to the south behind you and to your -- to my right out here on what was then called jerusalem plank road

would be lampkins and flanner's batteries. basically the confederates had artillery on the left, the right, and in the rear. so when the union troops attacked through here, they are going to get hit on three fronts. now, at 4:44 a.m. a tremendous explosion ruptured the earth throwing men, canons and a huge chunk of clay, the size of a four-room schoolhouse toward the heavens. the confederate casualties from the explosion were 44 killed outright, 234 bounded for a total of 278 known casualties. there were probably more. when this stuff blew up and went into the air, well, it's got to come down. so much went up that it took ten minutes for the debris to stop falling out of the sky. union soldiers 125 yards to my left were actually in the fallout area. they didn't stay there. they went back to the east a little ways to get out from under the debris falling. well, they had to wait ten minutes for that stuff to come

down. once they did go on the move, they got up here to the confederate line and they saw a hole which measured about 170 to 200 feet in length, 60 feet wide, and about 30 feet deep. plus remains, body parts of these confederate soldiers all over the place, some 456 buhalf buried, some completely buried. the division moved forward but they did not advance beyond the gaping hole. once the artillery opened, the division was pretty much pinned down. potter's division would eventually move up to the right back behind me. wilcox's division would move to ledly's left behind you. they would capture roughly about 400, 500 yards of confederate line. meanwhile, general mahone, who was about three miles away to the south, he received orders from lee whose headquarters was located at violet bank plantation to reinforce and plug

the union break through. mahone brought his old virginia brigade and wright's georgians commanded by hall. later he realized he was going to need men so he also ordered sander's alabama brigade to come up. it would take them a little while to get here. the african-american 4th division commanded by ferrero would now advance and they were just north of the crater just behind me here forming for an attack. mahone is here by this point in time. there were only 800 virginians in the brigade. mahone had a decision to make. he can see there are union troops up here forming for an attack. he doesn't know they're african-americans. he can't tell if they're white or black at this point in time. all he is doing is he is counting union regimental flags. 13, 14, 15. it's a lot of union solgders up there on that crest. mahone initially wanted the virginians and the georgians to attack simultaneously with the virginians on the left and the georgians on the right.

mahone has to make a snap decision. is it better to hit first or get hit first? he decides it's better to hit first, so he sends the virginians in without the georgians. the georgians are not ready to go yet. well, these 800 virginians attacked. they hit hard, and they hit with tremendous ferocity. they were actually aiming at the crater itself, but there's a common misconception that union troops in that hole are noncombatants. they are not. there are hundreds of them up on the rim of that crater and they are pouring out a tremendous amount of lead with the muskets. the virginians aim at the crater, but because of the sheets of lead coming at them, they veer off to the left, to the north. they run into the uscts in this area. there was hand-to-hand combat. over half of the virginians become casualties. some of the african-americans began to panic because they were hit so hard by these guys. some of the panic spread to the white union troops. the g.eorgians attacked and the

would eventually take the lines to the north of the crater and also to the south of the crater. now, keep in mind i'm doing a nine-hour bat until ten minutes here so i've got to skip a lot of stuff. finally at the end, by 1:00 p.m. the alabama troops come across the feltz fields to my left where those earthworks are. they're up on top of the earthworks and the crater was filled with union soldiers by this time and the blood was running downed sides and pooling in the bottom of the hole. the confederates would take mortar shells, about 16 pound hollow iron balls, lighting them by hand and tossing them into the hole. they are throwing muskets like hoar poons into the hole. you have to remember when you are in combat, you are no longary human being. you become an animal. both sides do this. you do not survive combat if you don't make that change. by 2:00 p.m., it was all over.

now, i'm going to read a few quotes, some of these are going to be gruesome but i want you to understand what it was like to be out here at that time. these fields we are in right now are killing fields. the same for the hole and the same for north and south of the crater and the same for the east side of the crater. some of these will be quotes and i will just say quote. this first one is a quote. this one guy wrote, there was one pile of 20 dead men. another one wrote, bullets were hitting the men, then passing through them and killing other men behind them. a full line of men around the crest of the crater, these are union soldiers, were loading and firing as fast as they could and the men were dropping thick and fast. most of them shot through the head. every man that was shot rolled down the steep side to the bottom and in places they were piled up four and five deep. now, at the north end of the crater, right over here, union troops piled up the bodies of their dead comrades to try to block the confederate bullets

coming in through the trenches. here is another quote, this man was in the crater, there was a light-haired boy apparently under 18 who fired steadily for more than an hour at the rim. a bullet smashed into the young man's forehead and he fell with his head against my feet, his blood gushing over them. i covered the boy's head and continued firing. kind of hard for us to conceive of this kind of thing. here is another quote, i counted 21 blacks who were shot at this spot. their bodies rolling and tumbling down the steep slope. blood was everywhere trickling down the sides of the crater in streamlets and in many places ponds of it as large as an ordinary wash basin. now, this was the largest number of african-american soldiers ever in any single battle of the entire war, and it would turn out to be the largest number of casualties suffered by african-americans in a single battle during the civil war. here is another quote, my tongue is swollen and lips cracked from the powder and biting cartridges. my gun at times gets so hot that

i have to stop firing. once it went off prematurely just as i loaded it. the discharge burned my eyela eyelashes and brows. a shell burst close to my head and i was tumbled over unconscious for a few seconds. another time my ramrod was shot from high hands and i was hit by the hands. now conditions get worse in the crater. another quet, one man was decapitated and his body fell slumping downwards and the blood rushed out as from an overturned pocket. here is another quote, one shell permeated the crater floor and dug up two bodies who had been buried by the mine explosion. another quote, everyone could see body parts flying into the air as a result of hits by the mortar shems. blood and brains flew so freely through the air many men were completely covered with them. general bartlett, a union general, was down in this hole. fortunately for him, his cork leg was shatter and not his one

remaining good leg. he had lost his cork leg at gettysbu gettysburg. there were native americans here today. a few indians of the first michigan sharpshooters did plen did work. some of them were mortally wounded and drawing their blouses over their faces they chanted a death song and died, four of them in a group. now, this is a story most people probably have never really realized, but, you know, there are native americans on both sides. it was highly likely that native americans fought native americans right out here. there were catawbas in the 17th south carolina and they were just north of the crater. in the crater there were menominees in the 37th wisconsin infantry and also company k of the first michigan sharpshooters were in the crater. so it's probable and highly likely you had natives fighting against natives. this one company ft. first michigan had ottawa, o jib way,

chippewa, and potawatomi tribes in this regiment. now, this last quote is the one that probably gets to me the most. no air was stirring within the crater. it was a sickening sight. men were dead and dying all around us. blood was streaming down the sides of the crater to the bottom where it gathered in pools for a time before being absorbed by the hard red clay. the slaughter became monotonous until it ceased to horrify. the aftermath of this battle, the battlefield presented a horrific sight. the dead and wounded were piled up, white, african-american, and native american all mixed together in their death throes. stretching for at least 100 yards north of the crater, the confederateworks were filled with the dead and dying. in places they lay so thick it was impossible not to tread on them when making one's way through the works. inside the crater the confederates found 133 bodies. the confederates dug down to retrieve the bodies of their own men and they found that the

blood had penetrated the sandy clay as much as five inches down. in some places the union bodies were piled up eight deep. the highest concentration of remains of both sides covered an area of 250 yards by 100 yards. there were hundreds of bodies in this area. three days later a truce was called and both sides claimed their dead. during the truce, over 600 remains were buried between the lines. these remains would be reinterred in the 1930s into either blanford cemetery or poplar grove. now, the casualties. confederate losses are roll not known in their entirety. at least 400 were killed, 700 wounded and 40 missing for a total of 1,340 but some sources go as high as 1,600 out of 9,400

engaged. that's well over 10% losses. some of the confederate regiments suffered tremendous losses. the 6th virginia went in with 80 men and 70 were killed. company c went into battle with 15 men. that's a very small company. 5 were killed, 8 were wounded. so 13 out of the 15 were casualties. the federal losses were extremely high. altogether, 504 were killed, 1,881 wounded, 1,413 missing for a total of close to 3,800 men. the african-americans suffered tremendous casualties. out of the 504 union troops killed, 433 were african-americans. 744 were wounded, and many were captured for a total of a little over 1,200 known casualties. now, in most civil war battles, people who surrendered, some of them do get killed after they surrender. it happens all the time.

it happened here. some of the african-americans were killed after they surrendered. killing the enemy soldiers after they surrendered is more common than you think. both sides did it. all races did it. it happened at least in four other battles during the siege of petersburg. it happened on june 15th, the first day of fighting. it happened here at the crater. it happened on september 29th at ft. archer, and it happened again at ft. greg on april 2nd. so it happens in all wars. we hear about the germans killing americans after they surrendered. well, one of my distant cousins was over there in world war ii and he said this weren't the only ones doing it. the americans did it, too. now, in conclusion, the battle of the crater was a great tactical victory for lee. he had blocked grant's attempt to take petersburg, but the siege would continue on for another eight months until petersburg and richmond finally fell to union forces on april 3rd, 1965. the war in virginia would end six days later at a small

country village known as appomattox courthouse when lee surrendered to grant. the long-term effects of this war, eventually we really became the united states of america, and it's a good thing when you look at early 20th century history. would we have been able to go over to europe in 1917 and '18 and defeat the kaiser? don't know, might not have worked out too well for the u.s. if we were divided. same thing for world war ii. could we have defeated the germans and the japanese if we were a divided nation? it's hard to say. this is in the realm of the unknown. but i really think that things were much better for everyone because we were the united states instead of being two separate countries. so i thank you all for being here today. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> i would like to give jimmy

another round of applause because really when we talked about the program today, ten minutes was -- it was agonizing to him. [ applause ] but in fairness to jimmy's remarks, he's given us a lot to think about this morning. one of the things i would charge you with as visitors to the park today, and this is 150 years to the day of this battle, what those men talked about in their quotes read by jimmy, take some time to walk these fields by yourself. don't take a tour. just give yourself a few moments to contemplate the words that were spoken by those men 150 years ago. we will not be able to conceptualize the horror, the sacrifice that was seen on this field july 30th, 1864. our keynote remarks this morning

are coming from colonel paul brooks. he is the garrison commander for ft. lee. colonel brooks assumed command of the u.s. army garrison at ft. lee in august 2013, so just a short time ago. his army career began in 1984 when he enlisted as a military policeman. he graduated from the united states military academy with a bachelor's of science in 1991 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the armored corps. he also holds a master's degree in military studies from the marine corps university and most recently a master's degree in national security studies from the dwight d. eisenhower school for national security and resource strategy at the national defense university which he earned in june of 2013. colonel brooks' other military schooling includes air assault school, airborne school, ranger school, which in the words of my

father is the most important -- the only one that matters. scout commander certification course, combined logistics officer advanced course, jump master school, combined armed services staff school, survival, evasion, resistance, and escape school. during his career colonel brooks yerlest assignments between 1992 and 1995 were as a tank platoon leader with the 2nd tank battalion at camp casey, korea. that is a missile maintenance and heavy maintenance and ba tal jan s-1 first cavalry division at ft. hood, texas. from 1996 to 2012, colonel brooks assumed roles of increasing spront at ft. bragg, north carolina, including commander of the 39th ordnance company, 1st corps support command, operations officer, 528th special operateses support battalion and in various command

operational resourcing and staff position in the u.s. army special operations command. now, as a deputy commanding officer 82nd sustainment brigade, colonel brooks also served multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan as a member of the joint special operations task force in various command operational and staff billets in support of operation iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom. his awards and decorations include the legion of merit, bronze star medal with one oak leaf cluster, defense meritorious service medal, meritorious service medal, army commendation medal with three oak leaf cluster. combat action badge, ranger tab, master parachutist badge and air assault badge. it's my honor this morning to introduce to you the garrison commander, colonel paul brooks. [ applause ] >> thanks for that great

introduction, chris. it all sounds a lot better than it actually is. i would just like to say it's awesome to be here. i would like to welcome everybody and say it's great to see here major moore -- mayor moore. not anymore. those army days are done but always great seeing you. always a friend of the community and ft. lee. every time we see you running around doing something with us, it's awesome. we appreciate it. before i get started also i would like to recognize all the work that the park service, especially chris bryce, has done to put this event together and not just this event, but all of the events over the course of the ten months that cover the entire siege and the battle of petersburg as well as the post office and all the other people that helped do this. why don't we give them one round of applause for doing it. [ applause ] also i would definitely like to thank you for asking me to speak here today. i have a great sense of gratitude for being allowed to participate in today's events. the significance of this day and this event and the anniversary

are not lost on me, and i consider it a great honor to stand before you today and talk about this. although the one thing i do have to admit when chris initially asked me to do this, i found the task a little bit daunting. i mean, come on, i'm surrounded by subject matter experts on the civil war, people who are trying to cram nine hours into ten minutes and still include more information than i would ever be able to get in there. and more specifically experts on this battle, and even though i am pretty accustomed to not being the smartest guy in the room, that adds a whole new perspective to the situation. now, i know i am a career soldier, and i am supposed to know that kind of stuff, but in college i was an economics major. we didn't really talk about the battle of the crater in macroeconomics. the one thing i remember is i actually remember this battle being discussed when i was in one of my history classes at west point. it wasn't really so much of the subject matter as it was my

instructor, captain dan bulger who went on to become lieutenant general dan bulger. he was a very animated and energetic speaker. he always made it interesting. and he was also the first person to ever actually make history, something that i wanted to go sit down and talk to. because he didn't really teach history nearly as much as he told stories. and isn't that what history really is? it's a story. it's our story. it's the story of what got us here today. and so we commemorate the battle of the crater which is just one of many chapters in the ongoing history and the ongoing story of our nation. now, as i said earlier, 50i78 personally no historian nor a great storyteller so i will leave the details of the battle up to more qualified personnel than myself, and lewis, that opening introduction and comments, thanks for setting the bar so high.

very powerful words and it was awesome. so i'm not going to attempt to tell the story or amplify it or offer any shockingly new insightful details on how it unfoameded. what i would like to talk about though is the people. the soldiers. the soldiers that played the parts of that story as it unfolded here and who have played the parts in every story and every chapter of every battle that our nation has participated in and more to the point the soldiers serving now and the ones we have serving and signing up to serve every day. i'd like to talk about them, their ability to secure our nation's future, their sense of duty, and their sack ri fition. it's a sacrifice that transcends far beyond just the soldiers who actually fight the battle, to their families, their friends, and their homes. that's something that the commemoration here will also recognize over the course of this year here and at different times in different locations across the country. in all, thousands paid the ultimate cost of that sacrifice on this spot and throughout this

entire battlefield while writing this chapter and throughout our history hundreds of thousands have paid that same price. and countless more have been wounded or captured. their blood is the ink that much of our history is written in. and i'm sure there are reasons for being here were just as varied as those of the sold whose join our ranks today and there are different reasons. then and now the reason to join is many. to make that sacrifice, to stand up for what you believe in. during this battle they may have fought to defend their country, fair thaem, their beliefs or their rights or strictly due to their sense of duty. soldiers from the north that could have fought to maintain the union for the preservation of the nation or their way of life or the abolition of slavery. those from the south for their newly formed nation, for states' rights, for something as basic as defending their homes and their families. for many that fought here, this, the land that we're on right now, was literally their backyard. the u.s. colored troops that fought here, for their freedom.

a great example of this being decatur dorsy. one of the trups from company 3 who was born a slave but who also won the congressional medal of honor for her actions right here on this ground. also, those who were drafted. surprisingly only 1% to 6% of the force that was here depe depending who you talk to, i'll leave that up to the experts again, they represented themselves, their units and the army admirably on this battlefield and i'm sure i could never accurately relate why they all came but for those that were here, they all made the sacrifice required to write this chapter. this sacrifice, this sense of duty, and this need to participate in or support or be a part of something much greater than themselves has played out time and time again throughout our history. so what about our future and the soldiers who will lead us there? as a leader in today's army, we're required to look at the future, where are we going, and to help determine how to best

ensure that the chapters of that future are of a secure america. and in the 30 years since i have enlisted, i have seen phenomenal changes in our army and its soldiers. we are once again an all-volunteer army and the quality, competence, capability, and sense of duty to their nation of these volunteers is what will secure our future. every army in the world attempts to emulate the capability of our enlisted personnel and our ncos and the bottom line is they can't do it and that's just the fact of the matter. some have been trying to do it for decades and we actively continually pursue efforts to teach other nations to adopt our model, but no one else has been able to replicate it and that's because of our soldiers. these soldiers are the reasons we are so strong. and as others chase us and try to emulate our capability, we will continue to improve and move forward and move farther away. one of the best conversations i saw that highlighted this occurred when i was working with the u.s. army special operations command at ft. bragg.

there was a special operations command center major and he was talking to a bunch of old retired soft veterans who had previously served in our unit. and they were talking about how concerned they were with respect to the quality of the soldier and what had happened to the unit over the years and that sergeant major was very adamantly opposed to what they were saying and was very upset by how they were saying it and he might have even actually threw a couple expletives in there when he said that this unit could easily whip the old-timers throw in your favorite expletive right there. he told them he did not mean this as an insult to them but as a testament to the fact that we are always getting better. that it is our duty to continually improve the capability of our units and the people that e fend our nation. he had no intent to belittle or diminish their efforts or accomplishments and even closed the conversation by telling them that if we didn't prepare the next generation to be able to whip us, as we should have been able to whip them, that we will

have failed them and our country no matter what we accomplish on today's battlefield. this ethos, to continually get better, to not accept good enough is an inherent part of our american culture and it's the reason we have and we always will have the best military in the world. before i leave you thinking that this is just some chest-thumping sales pitch, i would like to provide you with a few telling details about today's army. in my lifetime we have gone from a draft to an army whose ranks contain people whose only options were to either go to the army or go to jail. to one where only 28% or 29% of our age eligible population can even qualify to get into the army. think about that for just one moment. over 70% of our population, age eligible population, don't even meet the basic requirements to get into today's army. 99% of today's recruits have a high school diploma or the equivalent.

that's a 21 times lower rate of dropouts than the national average. overall, today's recruits are healthier and more physically fit than the vast majority of their peers, and they must adhere to a zero tolerance policy on drugs and criminal issues. it is actually statistically easier to get into college than it is to enlist, not become an officer, to enlist in the army. and the life of a soldier is -- and the life of a soldier is no secret to them. they join knowing they will endure hard times. they will undour sacrifice. and they will be charged to keep us safe. the few that make the cut to get in and are willing to make that sacrifice, they are not always easy to find. if it was easy to find, then we wouldn't need an entire command devoted to recruiting and those who do get in, those that make that cut to get in and then make the next cut to get through training and into a unit, they become part of something much

greater than themselves. they're the ones who have the combination of skills, the intelligence, the physical ability, and the sense of duty to be part of that 1% of our population that dons a military uniform. the 1% that puts their lives on the line in defense of our nation. that's the 1% that i want to be a part of. that's the 1% that i am proud to be a part of. so the next time you see that brand new private or a lieutenant with his shiny butter burr on, and they have them, know, know that they were among the best that our society had to offer. they have more ability and potential than most of their peers and they still chose, they chose to put that uniform on and to accept the sacrifices that come with it. they are tomorrow's generals and command sergeants majors. they are the future of our nation. so just let me close by saying i thank you again for the honor of being here to stand on this hallowed ground with all of you

and to remember this chapter in our history and the people who lived in it and the people who died in it. have a great day, god bless america. [ applause ] >> our benediction this morning will be given by reverend rick greenwood. he is with st. paul's episcopal church. i failed to mention that also with pastor lions from gillfield, both churches represented here today were wartime congregations here in petersburg, but, again, this morning our benediction, reverend greenwood. >> may god, the earthmaker, the god the universe creator, god the star thrower, god the tree

grower, may god the builder of nations, god the lord of lords, god the king of kings, god the lover of mankind, may god who is our history, god who is our present, god who awaits us in the future, god be with us now. may god the pain bearer, god the one who suffers, god the bloodied sacrifice, god the redeemer, may god the incarnate one, god the one born of woman, god the one who lived as one of us, god the son, may god who is with us, god who looks like us, god who frees us, god bless you now. may god the life giver, god the sanctifier, god the divine breath, god the holy maker, may god the spirit sharer, god the community creator, may the peace revealer, god the comforter of

all. may god who moves amongst us all, god who whispers divine love, god who lifts us into eternal life, god lead us forward today. may god the earthmaker, the pain bearer, the life giver, bless you and keep you now and always. amen. [ play [ playing taps ][ playing taps ]

♪ >> lewis, if i could have you back up with some closing remarks this morning. just from me personally, i want to thank you all for being here with us today on 150th anniversary of the battle of the crater. once again superintendent rogers. >> just want to be very short and thank you all for coming. i have learned when it's time for things to be over, it's time for them to be over. i want to thank ft. lee for coming out. colonel, your great speech. thank you. people don't realize that

petersburg used to be a part of ft. lee. they're actually our brother. we were cut out of ft. lee to be created as a battlefield. created by one union and one confederate soldiers. thanks to the postal service for coming here and presenting the stamp, thank you. and thank you for the city of petersburg for working with us. thank you and go and find yourself in history. thanks. with congress on recess, during this month american history tv airs throughout the week here on c-span3. coming up live this afternoon, author and historian anthony pitch will detail his book "the burning of washington" in which he describes how british military forces 200 years ago this week set the white house and u.s. capitol on fire after making their way into the nation's capital. hosted by the smithsonian associates you can see it live today starting at 6:45 eastern here on c-span3. coming up tonight a look at the civil war's atlanta

campaign. in may of 1864 union general william sherman marched into georgia with the goal of capturing atlanta. after a series of battles throughout the summer and a siege of the city, atlanta fell to the union on september 2nd, 1864. we'll hear about general sherman's march to the sea through georgia as well as general joseph e. johnston who led the confederates in atlanta. also a look at confederate weapons manufacturing in central georgia during and after the fall of atlanta. it's all coming up tonight starting at 8:15 eastern here on c-span3. here are some of the highlights for this weekend. friday on c-span in prime time, we'll visit important sites in the history of civil rights movement. saturday night at 8:00, highlights from this year's new york ideas forum including andrew hessle and on sunday q & a with charlie rangel at 8:00

p.m. eastern. friday night at 8:00 on c-span2, in depth with reza aslan. sunday night at 11:00, lawrence goldstone on the competition between the wright brothers and glen curtis. american history tv on c-span3 on friday at 8:00 eastern, a look at hollywood's portrayal of slavery. saturday night at 8:00, the 200th anniversary of the battle of bladensburg and the burning of washington. and white house chiefs of staff discuss how presidents make decisions. find our television schedule at cspan.org and let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400 or e-mail us at comments@cspan.org. join the c-span conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. next, a look at the role of the u.s. colored troops in the

battle of the crater during the siege of petersburg. after weeks of tunneling, union forces blew up a mine underneath the confederate lines to create a gap in the defenses. emmanuel dabney of petersburg national battlefield discusses why the attack ultimately failed and why the u.s. colored troops were unjustly blamed. this event was part of the gettysburg college civil war institute's annual summer conference. it's just under an hour. >> good morning. i was prewarn you today you will hear language that we find repulsive. i'm not going to cut it out because it makes us quiver. we'll get started. on june 12th, 1864, after failing to defeat robert e. lee's army of northern virginia, lieutenant general ulysses s. grant accompanying major general

george meade's army of the potomac and a portion of the army of the james pulled away from the fortifications at cold harbor and began the movement toward petersburg. some troops ferried to the bermuda hundred region just north of petersburg to begin the attack on the city the following day of june 15th. petersburg in 1860 had been virginia's second largest city with a population of 18,266 folks. since the war of 1812, it had been referred to as the cockade city because volunteers wore cockades on their hats as they went off to war. four railroads radiated from the city by 1860, the petersburg railroad which ran south to weldon, north carolina. the richmond and petersburg obviously connecting those two places. the south side, which ran from

city point through petersburg to lynchburg and norfolk and petersburg. in addition, the city possessed four cotton mills, an other operations. these operations tap into a discussion we were just having about the importance of places are going to be cranking out supplies and food for the confederacy throughout the war. in addition to that industrial activity, the confederacy separated several wartime plants within or near the city, still funking in the summer of 1864 including a naval ropeworks, a leadworks, artificial nighter bids to obtain salt peter for the gun powder and a wagonworks. a war time blockade, getting back to the interests in the blockade, had created even greater importance for the petersburg railroad because

weldon operated connecting petersburg with european-ran goods through the blockade there at wilmington. grant wanted -- i should have clicked a while ago. there's petersburg. grant wanted to cut off richmond's communications and transportation of goods from and through petersburg and, of course, destroy lee's army. from june 15th to the 18th before lee even really fully arrived at petersburg, union troops assaulted the city but failed to capture it. siege operations began and along one part of the line the men in major general ambrose burnside's 9th corps were less than 400 feet from the confederate earthworks. in the summer 1864's drought and heat wave was the constant sharp shooting, construction of earthworks, and a plan had

developed to break this campaign before it lasted much longer. as early as union 21st, lieutenant colonel henry pleasant thought mining the confederate position at elliott salient, alternately called fee gram's battery was a possibil y possibility. the greatest enthusiasm was from brigadier general potter and ambrose burnside. the 48th pennsylvania infantry began ex ka kating the mine the 25th of june. for whatever reason people remember it started at 12:00 noon. if you are detail oriented, they left it for us. the work was performed night and day. seven days a week, even in the intense summer heat which often exceeded 105 degrees. the concerns about ventilating the mine were addressed, kind of represented in the images here. fresh air entered an eight-inch square wooden duct and

circulated through and fire was created which would send the bad air out. a canvas door was placed over the entry to keep fresh air in and allow miners to get in and out of the shaft. the wooden duct system was extended and by the 17th of july the mine would reach the 510.8 feet that pleasants had first proposed. two galleries are going to be extended which is represented in this image at the top underneath the confederate position in which the gun powder is supposed to be packed. . while the 48th pennsylvania infantry dug the mine, burnside crafted a battle plan. three weeks ahead of the assault, he informed edward ferrero of his plan to use those

men first. burnside expected 12,000 pounds of gun powder to explode somewhere around day break or at least by 5:00 a.m. then the black soldiers would be masked in double columns ready to pass through the gap in the enemy's line. the lead regiment of the brigade was to be perpendicular to the confederate line and execute this by maneuvering to the north to the right of the explosion site and the brigade to the left was to do the same but in reverse. the remaining regiments would move as quickly as possible to the crest in front as rapidly as possible as burnside wrote. then the white troops of burnside's corps and others would soon follow. ferrero was directed to drill his enthusiastic troops but not veterans for this attack. however, this is an issue that we still don't know all the

details of, were the u.s. colored troops trained, were they not trained? depends on who you ask. captain robert beacham of the 23rd u.s. ct recalls only one drill between june 22nd and july 29th and that there was, as he said, nothing specific to this particular battle maneuver but they were, as he 15isaid, most common and simple maneuvers. others recall special training. it was remembered time after time did my regiment go through the imaginary vanadvance, the t to the left. every officer and every private knew his place and what he was expected to do. so in short, i'll say we don't know if they were trained or not. what we do know is the confederates figure out what's going on with the union mining activity just five days after the federals have started. this man is to -- on the

confederate side be praised for lucky guessing. many of you in this audience, your attention to gettysburg know him. he's expecting to see the siege operations of 19th century warfare to be taking place trying to extend union lines, get them closer to the confederates, but he's not noticing that. he notices, however, that there's intense sharp shooting coming into this position and he thinks seriously that the enemy isn't going to come, as he said, above ground, but they were coming underground. they were mining us, he later wrote. i always say on my tours it's important to know that this isn't farmer joe's son who probably wouldn't have guessed this. alexander is a grat wad of west point, 3rd in his class of 38,

and so he knew this sort of world of siege operations, which could include mines. alexander reported his suspicions to headquarters. counter mining began in several places but they would not go deep enough to collapse the union mine. they are going to be busy at elliott salient constructing another earthwork just because of the intense amount of sharp shooting and artillery fire the confederates it was later stated had practically honeycombed the area in between these new calve leer trench and the back of elliott's salient with bomb proofs. what they didn't know is that this will soon enough create an obstacle for the federals. what is definitely planned beyond the cavalier trench are alexander's orders to move up more artillery and so it's going

to kind of be in a horseshoe shaped ring around this region and the confederates are going to have 30 canon and 5 mortars to use against any union infantry attack in that particular area. the plan developed by burnside began unraveling almost as soon as army headquarters got the plan. on july 27th, 8,000 pounds of gun powder arrived instead of the 12,000 as meade's engineer has decided that that's all that they need. a single fuse arrived in segments, 10 to 15 in length which required multiple splicing. the plans for the attack which burnside had proposed were changed by general meade. on the morning of july 28th, meade and burnside had a showdown about the battle plan. meade stated at a military court of inquiry a few days after the

battle that black soldiers were just too green for this attack. later that year grant testified to congress, congressional committee investigating the crater, general meade said that if we put the colored troops in front, we had only that bun division, and it should prove a failure. it would then be said and very properly that we were shoving these people ahead to get killed because we did not care anything about them. but that could not be said if we put white troops in front. since burnside protested this last-minute change, meade stated he would talk with grant about it, and it's important to understand that technically burnside outranks meade. kind of been a contentious sort of thing since burnside had arrived back east in the spring, and so grant outranks both of them, he can decide once he hears the plans which he only will hear from meade so meade

really represents what his opinion is and gives kind of the postscript version of what burnside feels and grant agrees with meade. however, neither general bothered to inform burnside of this until july 29th. at 11:00 a.m. meade and another union general appeared at burnside's headquarters. burnside still wants the plan that he had to go forth and he is going to ask meade can not this be change, and meade says, no, the order is final. besides the use of the u.s. colored troops, meade objected to the maneuvers that burnside wished to perform. meade simply wanted the men to go up promptly and take the crest. the problem with that not very detailed order is that it doesn't take into account the other confederate troops that are to the north of the explosion site and i should point out that the objective here is to take the high ground at blanford cemetery which is to

the north a few hundred yards of elliott salient. so meade and this other union general leave burnside to figure out what he's going to do. calls forth these eligible division commanders now and that will include orlando wilcox in the center there, james ledlie on the left, and robert potter on the right. despite burnside's later realization he should have probably selected wilcox or potter, he felt like their divisions had been very used up, so he selects james ledlie. ledlie, some as you know, has a fondness for alcohol, and it's been exhibited most kind of notably at the battle of north hannah river, late in may of 1864 and again in the initial attacks on petersburg on june 17th.

during the day and night of july 29th, final preparations are made that include moving 110 federal cannon and 54 mortars across a two-mile front to be used right after the explosion takes place and try to, of course, pin down confederates as the attack moves forward. white troops move into their position. of course, now in front, ferrero's troops are going to be in the back of this attacking column. colonel pleasants will go in on july 30th, light the fuse, 3:30 in the morning. it didn't go off. 4:15, two people volunteered to go back inside to figure out what has gone wrong. most of the time on my tours, i don't have very many people say that would be me. occasionally i get it, though, and i say, you brave person. they relit the fuse and at 4:44

a.m., the gun powder explodes, as represented in this image from "harper's weekly." quarter master sergeant james payne of the 27th u.s. color troops wrote afterwards, on saturday morning the 30th, one of the enemy's forts which the garrison were imposing in pleasant slumber, dreaming of no danger or apprehending any was blown up, destroying nearly all who were in it at the time. the hole in the confederate line was now 170 feet long, 30 feet deep, 60 feet wide. few confederates in the position are going to live to tell the tale. somewhere between 278 and 350 men from south carolina regiments in position and 19 men in the confederate artillery there are going to become casualties in the blast. but the battle that follows reveals more about personalities and racial divisions than about military tactics and objectives.

artillery shells belch from the federal's 110 cannon and 54 mortars as the battle began. ledlie's division deployed around 5:00 a.m., supported by robert potter and orlando wilcox's men. of course, the confederates are going to respond, going to be a somewhat weak response at this particular moment from the infantry. though intense confederate artillery fire began to develop pretty rapidly. particularly mettlesome to the federals that it's coming from the right, so part of the army that james is going to be deployed to try to cover and push out some north carolinians that were to the north of the crater and silence whatever this gun battery is that's sending shells ripping through the ranks, and that's what's represented here, but i'm not going to really spend a lot of time talking about the white troops. should have come to kevin's talk

yesterday about them. we're going to focus on the black troops. about 8:00 a.m., ferrero's division is ordered to attack. the first brigade in will be joshua siegfried and the first regiment, bates' 30th u.s. color troops. as they crash into the confederates, they begin to scream out, no quarter, and remember ft. pillow. and some of you know, but for those who don't, ft. pillow earlier in the year in april, confederate troops refused to accept surrender of most of the garrison of white and black troops. and when the battle comes to its crazed end, we have 150 white p.o.w.s and 58 black men. everybody else in the garrison of 600 has been killed or mortally wounded. it doesn't matter that these

black troops weren't there, that these white troops weren't there. this becomes a battle cry for the rest of the war with black troops. one confederate officer screamed to his men as he saw the black column coming, rally, boys, rally, and drive them back. they are nothing but niggers. immediately somehow in the sounds of battle, this is overheard by sergeant john offer. and a dozen other black combatants who charged the officer and one of the soldiers thrust a bayonet into the officer's chest. following the 30th is the 43rd usct. within that regiment, captain albert d. wright captures the flag that you see here on the left. thanks to cathie wright for providing that image. and he was wounded, himself. the mingling already of white and black troops in and around the crater and southern artillery is going to start to slow progress for the 27th and 39th usct of siegfried's brigade.

as these regiments moved through the remains of the salient colonel bates was shot in the face. the bullet traveled through his cheek and exited near his left ear. amazingly, bates survived and returned to duty in the fall of 1864. he has a pretty impressive mustache here already. gets bigger to cover up the, you know, part of his face that has been partially collapsed from the bullet. he'll receive a medal of honor for his actions here at the crater. sergeant decatur dorsey of the 39th usct ran his regiment's flag ahead of the rest of the men, planted it on the surviving confederate fortifications which encouraged the men to move forward. following on the heels of siegfried's men, a brigade commanded by colonel henry g. thomas. thomas recalled, quote, deadly, eight guns on our right and murderous crossfire decimated us. the firepower forced thomas to

admit his first regiment in, the 31st usct, will be mowed down like grass. thomas ordered the troops back into the area behind the crater, which means having to try to move through the masses of white troops already there, which is also honeycombed with the bombproofs. you remember that. his attempts to rally and charge again are going to be met with doom. see thomas here on the left and colonel john bross, who gets himself all dandied up to go into this attack. he's got his best coat on, his best sword, best hat. he will stand on top of confederate earthworks that are surviving trying to encourage his men forward. and he will get shot down. captain robert beacham of the 23rd wrote that his soldiers in their attempt to charge the confederates again formed promptly. there was no flinching on their

part. they came to the shoulder touch just like true soldiers. as ready to face the enemy and meet death on the field as the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived. but think for a moment of forming for an effective charge in that death valley, under a murderous fire, crowded literally jammed in with other troops, confused and broken up as we were. officers, of course, are going down. confederate artillery firepower is continuing. and infantry units on the confederate side are beginning to move up. commanded by the only division of troops that lee actually commands, this particular day on the south side of the appomattox river led temporarily, turned out to be permanent, by brigadier general william mahone. mahone is going to decide to move up to initially brigades, later a third. initially virginians he once commanded and currently

commanded by david wisager, a native of petersburg, and his georgia brigade now commanded by matthew hall, a lieutenant colonel. the virginians, as they get on to the battlefield, are kind of moving toward the battlefield, are going to encounter confederates who are running backwards. one informed mahone, hell has busted back thar. that's t-h-a-r, how it was spelled. another told the men, ah, boys, you have hot work ahead. they are niggers and show no quarter. lieutenant colonel william stewart, commanding the 61st virginia, wrote very frankly many years later, this report from the men passing us was the first intimation that we would have to fight negroes and it seemed to infuse our little band with impetuous daring as it pressed forward to the fray. i never felt more like fighting in my life. our comrades had been slaughtered in a most inhuman and brutal manner, and black

slaves were trampling over their mangled and bleeding forms. revenge must have fired every heart and strung every arm with nerves of steel. for the herculean task of blood. mahone gives a rallying speech that amazingly isn't filled with any sort of racially charged language. just before the virginians attack at 9:00 a.m. confederate officer in the 6th virginia, commander actually, wrote, with fixed bayonets and strong double quick they sprung forward from the ravine and rushed the foe, the packed trenches. he admits that the bayonet was used in a way he had never seen used in a war. this was a veteran from 1861. virginians pay a heavy price to capture a few hundred feet of earthworks. the georgians will follow them